Acoma/Zuni Trail El Mapais
New Mexico
About the
Center for Global Awareness
What We are About
We are an educational nonprofit dedicated to inspiring lifelong learning for travelers, educators, and students of all ages. Through our travel program, publications, educational resources, workshops, and cultural commentary, we foster a holistic approach that deepens cultural understanding, broadens global perspectives, and encourages balanced viewpoints.
Our mission is to inspire people to see the world with new eyes—to engage with curiosity, understanding, and a deep appreciation for the richness and variety of the human experience.
Garden at Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, photo Denise Ames
Reflections: Center for Global Awareness
After many years of channeling my passion for global awareness into work with educators and students, I have decided to broaden my audience to include the general public and travelers. I will be writing articles on Substack and other platforms that explore how my approach to global awareness can help people thoughtfully navigate and evaluate global issues in today’s polarized political climate. This work feels both timely and deeply needed.
I have also created CGA’s third program, Global Awareness for Travelers (GATE), which adapts many of the global awareness principles I originally developed for educators to support culturally curious and engaged travelers. I invite you to visit the GATE page to learn more—I hope you find this program as meaningful and inspiring as it was for me to create.
The journey of CGA since its founding in 2003 has left me both hopeful and deeply grateful. What began as a hope—that a holistic approach and global perspective on world history and global issues would resonate with others—has guided my work ever since. With the partnership of Nancy Harmon and the contributions of many others, CGA has grown into an educational nonprofit that has reached thousands of people across the United States and around the world. Our books and learning resources continue to be widely used and appreciated, a legacy that speaks to the dedication of everyone involved. I am profoundly thankful for all who have supported CGA’s growth and success. And I remain hopeful that our message—encouraging people to see the world through a holistic and global lens—is more relevant now than ever.
Dr. Denise R. Ames, founder Center for Global Awareness
Trail at Acadia National Park, Main, USA, photo Denise Ames
Moving Forward
About Denise and Nancy
Dr. Denise R. Ames, a veteran educator, draws on her extensive teaching experience, diverse life experiences, world travels, and careful research to develop a holistic, globally focused approach to world history, cultural awareness, the global economy, and major global issues. She has taught in secondary schools, community colleges, universities, and professional development programs. Dr. Ames has spoken publicly and led workshops on world history, globalization, and global awareness for educators both nationally and internationally. In 2003, she founded the Center for Global Awareness and has served as its president since. She is the author of eleven books and is a regular contributor to the CGA blog. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Nancy W. Harmon, a veteran educator, holds an MA in Multicultural Education from the University of New Mexico and is certified in English and English as a Second Language. She has taught and developed curriculum in a wide range of settings, including a community school on the Navajo Nation, Peace Corps teacher‑training programs in Eritrea and Thailand, and an English‑language environmental management graduate program in Bangkok, Thailand. Nancy also helped implement a nationally recognized service‑learning program at an innovative charter high school. She is the author of International Folktales and resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
The Story of the Center for Global Awareness
by Dr. Denise R. Ames
The Center for Global Awareness (CGA) was officially established in June 2003, when my daughter, Mia, created a simple website that marked its first appearance online. I founded CGA out of a desire to expand my research and teaching on holistic world history, the global economy, and global education. In 2002, I led a series of workshops on the global economy for lifelong learners. The enthusiastic response inspired me to continue and build on this work. While teaching at Central New Mexico College, I broadened these offerings, developing additional programs on global topics for the general public.
Denise (r) with Singapore teachers
Denise teaching a class at Center for Action & Contemplation, Albuquerque, NM USA.
After several years of teaching in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area and gaining many rewarding experiences, I decided to broaden the scope of my teaching and research. At that point, CGA began to evolve in a new direction. Starting in 2005, I led numerous workshops and classes for educators across the country on holistic world history, the global economy, and global education. One particular highlight was facilitating a week-long globalization workshop for educators in Singapore in 2006.
Many teachers and participants requested additional materials from the workshops I presented, particularly on my holistic approach to world history. I had been developing this approach since my graduate studies and during my years teaching at Illinois State University in the 1990s. In 2008, I decided to take on the challenge of writing Waves of Global Change: A Holistic World History. With some sadness, I taught my final semester at Central New Mexico College that same year and then turned to writing full time.
Writing proved more challenging than I had expected. The book went through several rewrites and extensive editing by others, and at times it felt as though I might never finish. During this period, I began considering the idea of starting an educational nonprofit that would provide holistic, globally focused books and resources for educators and students from grade 9 through university. It seemed like an overwhelming task for one person. Little did I realize, however, that CGA was about to take yet another new direction.
As luck would have it, I reconnected with a friend I had first met in a globalization study group in 2003: Nancy Harmon. Our paths crossed again in 2007 while we were serving on the board of a local nonprofit. By the end of 2009, Nancy was wrapping up her long and varied teaching career and looking for a project that would keep her connected to the educational community. One cold December evening, we met for dinner at a local Thai restaurant in Albuquerque and talked nonstop about forming a partnership to write, publish, and share holistic, globally focused books and educational materials. With Nancy’s background in English, my background in social studies, and our shared passion for global issues, it felt like a perfect match.
Denise at workshop at Cleveland State University, Ohio.
Denise at world history educator’s workshop, World College, New Mexico.
Nancy and I developed a detailed business plan and concluded that forming a nonprofit organization would be the best approach. We then dove into the long and complex IRS application process to obtain 501(c)(3) status. As is often the case, it took much longer than expected. By May 2010, we finally mailed off the hefty application, anticipating a favorable response within a few months.
While we waited, we decided it would be wise to continue writing and developing resources so that, once we officially launched our nonprofit, we would already have materials available. Nancy worked on her book, International Folktales for the ESL Classroom, and also edited several of my manuscripts. I completed my holistic world history book, along with an educator’s handbook to accompany it. I then plunged into researching and writing two additional books—one on the global economy and the other on the financial sector.
One day in September 2010, I opened the mailbox to find a letter from the IRS. I assumed it would say, “Congratulations—you are now a member of the nonprofit community.” But that wasn’t the case. Instead, we were asked to submit additional information—and then, a few months later, even more. As the months dragged on, we began to worry that our application might be in trouble.
Then, on a crisp, clear fall day in October 2011, I opened another letter from the IRS—this time with our acceptance. I was stunned, and Nancy could hardly believe it. After all the delays and uncertainty, we were officially a nonprofit.
Now that we were officially a nonprofit, we could finally move forward with our ambitious plans for CGA. We launched a new website and established a presence on social media, then spent the next year working diligently to put everything in place. As the sometimes frustrating year of 2012 came to a close, we looked ahead to 2013 with renewed optimism.
Denise at workshop in Korea
Globalization workshop, Singapore, photo Denise Ames
June 2013 marked the 10th anniversary of CGA, and it seemed as though we were finally making progress. We had completed five books available for sale through our website, established a blog and were posting regularly on it and across social media, and were sending out monthly newsletters. In the meantime, I had been invited over the years to travel to several countries—including Iran, Turkey, China, and Germany (twice)—to help develop educational resources about those places. I thoroughly enjoyed these experiences.
The year 2014 brought an exciting change of pace for me. Instead of focusing solely on writing books, I traveled to Germany in July to work as a consultant with the Goethe-Institut, developing a cross-cultural teaching unit for educators on Germany. In November, I traveled to South Korea with the Academy of Korean Studies. Preparing for and following up on these two trips occupied much of my time, as I completed consulting projects along with a series of blog posts and lesson plans.
In 2015, I participated in an educational tour of Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, sponsored by the Bilateral U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce. I used this opportunity to develop a lesson plan and write blog posts about the region. The trip aligned well with the publication of my sixth book in 2016, Human Rights: A Universal Values System?
After much reflection, we decided to launch a new program at CGA called GATHER: Global Awareness Through Engaged Reflection. GATHER is a conversation-based study program that brings together small groups of concerned adults. Each group meets to deepen global awareness through the study and discussion of pressing global and cultural issues. Using a unique four-dimensional approach called SEEK—See, Evolve, Engage, and Know—participants explore multiple perspectives, develop attitudes and skills for interacting with those who are different from them, engage with others to promote positive systemic change, and deepen their knowledge of critical global and cultural issues.
Alongside other projects, we spent much of 2016 and 2017 preparing and planning for GATHER. During this time, I also completed my seventh book, Five Worldviews: The Ways We See the World, which was published in 2017.
Significant changes came to CGA in 2018. It had been a decade since Nancy and I had last taught in the classroom, and global education was losing favor among some educators, while a social justice approach was gaining traction. We decided it was time to step back from our roles as global educators and pursue new interests.
I enjoyed teaching, so I reasoned that transitioning from educators and students to lifelong learners was a natural next step. I thought it would be rewarding to teach Five Worldviews and other content through adult education programs in Albuquerque. I enthusiastically submitted proposals and refined my courses. I revisited some of my established topics—holistic world history, the global economy, Five Worldviews, human rights, and cross-cultural awareness—while also introducing new ones, such as Indigenous Wisdom and a Transformative Worldview. The classes were well received, and I genuinely enjoyed the experience.
From 2018 until COVID-19 struck in March 2020, I continued teaching lifelong learning classes at various venues in Albuquerque. In early 2020, I published my eighth book, Divided: Five Colliding Worldviews and How to Navigate Them. Then COVID-19 arrived, and like so many others, it turned my life upside down. My adult education classes were cancelled, leaving me in a period of uncertainty.
The Center for Global Awareness has undergone several changes since the COVID-19 disruption in 2020. I shifted much of my focus to marketing and writing about Five Worldviews, the book I first completed in 2018, releasing a timely second edition in 2021. It continues to sell well among educators. I have also sought to apply many of the global awareness principles I developed for educators and students to travelers. In addition, I am launching a Culture Decoded project, in which I comment on cultural issues affecting the world today. Nancy has chosen to enjoy her retirement and focus on her passion for supporting refugees. We still see each other regularly and share the highs and lows of our CGA journey.
Denise in a United Arab Emirates classroom, for girls.
